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Alabama Wages War Against the Perfect Weed
pickens writes "Dan Berry writes in the NY Times that the State of Alabama is spending millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to combat Cogongrass, a.k.a. the perfect weed, the killer weed, and the weed from another continent. A weed that 'evokes those old science-fiction movies in which clueless citizens ignore reports of an alien invasion.' Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) is considered one of the 10 worst weeds in the world. 'It can take over fields and forests, ruining crops, destroying native plants, upsetting the ecosystem,' writes Berry. 'It is very difficult to kill. It burns extremely hot. And its serrated leaves and grainy composition mean that animals with even the most indiscriminate palates — goats, for example — say no thanks.' Alabama's overall strategy is to draw a line across the state at Highway 80 and eradicate everything north of it; then, in phases, to try to control it to the south. But the weed is so resilient that you can't kill it with one application of herbicide, you have to return several months later and do it again. 'People think this is just a grass,' says forester Stephen Pecot. 'They don't understand that cogongrass can replace an entire ecosystem.' Left unchecked, Pecot says 'it could spread all the way to Michigan.'"
If it is that resilient and fast growing, you will not be able to control it anyhow. Many, many examples of invasive species throughout the world show this. So, just learn how to harvest it and make biodiesel/biogas/electricity out of it. No intensive agriculture, ferilizers or herbicides needed. Plus, this might piss off the corn/ethanol lobby enough to actually start taking action against the grass. Ether way, we win. Oh yeah, biodiversity losses, but that is shafted anyway...
Complexity is a measure of our ignorance...
Can this voracious weed perhaps be turned into biofuel? It seems to grow fast, and almost anywhere.
Why not grind it up and compost it to make methane or something.
Four years ago, I did battle with Japanese Knot Weed in the back garden of a house we rented in Cambridge. I tried to kill it for two years by digging it up and applying weed killer. It was very resilient, but I was winning the battle before we left that house. This was a small area looked after by a pretty determined individual (me), I can't imagine what it would take to get rid of it from the the huge areas it occupies such as the valleys around Cardiff.
Genetic alteration to make inedible things food (oh, sorry, got that backwards -- make food inedible) is so 1970s.
We've got to figure out how to turn this stuff into biodiesel.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
> Out here on the opposite coast, another kind of weed is flourishing.
> Japanese Knotweed.
True that. Have seen it take over miles and miles of banks on the Delaware
river. Nothing else survives!
AFAIK you have to cut it carefully and then actually burn it. This stuff will
sprout even on a compost where you threw the cut-off plants. Any ideas to
prevent regrowth at the original site...salt on the roots perhaps?
Doesn't even need to be pelletized. They have outside furnaces now that are designed to take big round bales. And I imagine any coal burning plant has the means to take the stuff in bulk as well. But then harvesting it and moving it around would just spread the seeds further.
With that said, there probably isn't any chemical control that would work, although that monsanto "terminator" gene tech might. Still risky though.
Invasive species are a PITA, I am always having to deal with them here. For example I have gradually started turning tide on multiflora rose, after five years of a lot of effort, spraying, mowing and physically yanking the big clumps out by the roots with chains and the tractor. They get to be like freeking little trees almost. One interesting thing I found out though, this rose also attracts another invasive species, Japanese beetles, that munch on it. So sometimes I get a good "twofer" opportunity for eradication.
I haven't seen that cogongrass yet on the property, but IF I do, I'll make it a point to nail that stuff daily if that is what it takes.
Send a zillion seeds and drop them on Mars. Wait. Within years, the planet will be green. Oxygen abundant. Then we can burn half of it, and turn up the heat in the greenhouse~
Kudzu makes decent forage. Kudzu hay typically has a 15-18% crude protein content and over 60% total digestible nutrient value, slightly lower on longer vines. Unfortunately it's hard to bale and store.
Since it stores a lot of starch in the roots, they can regenerate for a long time. My goats will eat anything that doesn't break off in the ground, including the seed pods. If they're still around, kudzu won't be able to get started again. They'll eat any vines that start. That includes kudzu, but also wild grape vines, poison ivy, and just about anything else that grows on a vine.
If we could cultivate the market for goat meat in the US, those vast areas overgrown by kudzu would immediately turn into potential grazing land. Of course, in an environmentally sensitive area, the goats would be almost as hard on native plants as the kudzu. So there are trade offs both ways. But since goat is a red meat with roughly the same caloric value and 1/2 the fat of skinless chicken, 50% lower fat than beef, and 1/3 the calories of pork you'd think we'd be eating more goat.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage